hey tribe! how are you doing?

"a promise between friends means never having to give a reason." -phoebe buffay, friends.

friends play an important role in one’s life, as, after family, your friends are the people you meet almost on a daily basis. friendships are beneficial to your health. friends may encourage you during difficult times and help you celebrate good moments. friends keep you from feeling alone and lonely and provide you with the ability to provide the necessary company.

friendships come in all forms, for example, childhood, school, college, and work friendships. all these relationships have some meaning in your life, whether it could be positive or negative. in a positive way, it could be that friendship helps you to grow, love, value yourself and learn new things in life. however, in a negative way, it could be annoyance, peer pressure, bullying in the name of "fun", and lots more.

a good group of friends can determine adequate mental health, whereas a bad group of friends cannot. sometimes people are not able to detect this and continue to be friends with those who have deteriorated their mental health.

here are some pointers that show how good/real friendships impact us for the better. you can use them to determine if your relationship with your friends has a positive effect on your mental health.

lending a helping hand

friends that are always ready to help their friends when in need are definitely the best ones. even in a group of friends, you always need one to stand by you no matter what. let's appreciate the ones who stick with us through thick and thin.

spending quality time

quality time as an act of love is definitely applicable to platonic relationships. friends that take the time and effort to spend time with you should definitely be treasured. even in their busiest moments, they take the time to keep checking on you, or even months after not speaking, they come up with a text. this means a lot about how they look at the relationship.

friends don’t lie

people value honesty, especially when it comes from close family members and friends. you expect there to be some sort of honesty when they share it with you. not being able to speak your mind and being in constant fear of being judged is definitely not the essence of friendship.

you aren't able to be your true self

mirroring your friend’s behaviour could be a good thing but could also take a turn to the wrong side as you may feel like doing everything they do, even the really grievous actions. especially when you are forced to act the way they do, due to the fear of being alone. people who appreciate their friends' quirks and flaws are the purest forms of friendship.